Face off!

Mr West reports on the latest successes of Claremont High School’s Debate Union 

In January 2026, members of Claremont’s Debate Union attended two major inter-school British Parliamentary (BP) debate competitions: the Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition on 19th January and the Cambridge Schools’ Debating Competition on 24th. These are very intense debate formats, in which participants get fifteen minutes to prepare their arguments before giving five-minute speeches in teams of two. There are four teams per debate.   

At the Oxford Schools competition, Claremont was represented in teams of two by: Maryam Abdur-Rahman 13.6 and Fadel Farik 12.2; Rania Al-Muktar 13.7 and Nicole Hibberd 13.6; and Sabina Jiurje 11.5 and Aaradhya Mundada 9.6. This was a two-round competition held after school at St Paul's Girls School (SPGS) in Hammersmith. Sadly, the Oxford convenors hold a 'closed' competition, which means they do not publish the individual results of each debate, but our teams made a very good account of themselves, especially as this was the first BP competition for five of the students. None of them, however, advanced to the next round of the competition as they faced tough opposition from the likes of Eton College, SPGS and South Hampsted School for Girls (SHSG).  

At the Cambridge Schools competition, Claremont was represented, again in teams of two, by: Nicole Hibberd and Kanha Solanki 12.1; Fadel Farik and Elsa Haddaway 12.6; and Aaradhya Mundada and Samaa Almurayati 9.2. This was a four-round competition held throughout the day on Saturday 24th January at Francis Holland School in Sloane Square. 

There were 128 competitors in total, divided into 64 teams. Out of all of them, Claremont A (Nicole and Kanha) finished eighth, meaning they have qualified for the finals in Cambridge in March! This is a first in the history of Claremont High School’s  Debate Union and we are incredibly proud of them. Claremont was the only state school to break through to the finals and join debaters from SPGS, SHSG, Westminster, Dulwich and Highgate schools.  

Claremont B (Elsa and Fadel) came twenty-first out of the 64 teams and finished joint thirty-second out of 128 in individual speaker points. Claremont C (Aaradhya and Samaa) came thirty-second out of 64, which was a tremendous achievement for two Year 9s who had to face off against much older students, mostly from independent schools.   

‘It was my first time doing a competition, so I was quite stressed,’ admits Aaradhya, ‘but I eventually got the hang of it and I was well-prepared against students of different levels of experience from Debate Club.’ 

‘Debate Club trained us for the competition very well,’ adds Fadel, ‘and it felt natural and was a lot of fun. I enjoyed myself there!’ 

All our pupils came away from the two competitions excited and delighted to have represented Claremont. They have all received R5s for their excellent contribution to the profile of the school on the London debate circuit. 

And there are more inter-school debates to come: the Fictional Worlds Debating at South Hampstead School on 19th March and the Cambridge Schools’ Debating Competition finals in March… Watch this space!